Title 40, Title 40

(1) Except for proceedings under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, the Montana Rules of Civil Procedure apply to all proceedings under this chapter, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. (2) A proceeding for declaration of invalidity of marriage …

The provisions of other portions of this code in relation to contracts and the capacity of persons to enter into them have no application to the contract of marriage.

(1) The director of the department of public health and human services shall prescribe the form for an application for a marriage license, which must include the following information: (a) name, sex, as defined in 1-1-209, address, [social security number,] and date and place of …

(1) Parties may not be joined in marriage within this state until a license has been obtained for that purpose from a clerk of the district court. (2) A license authorizes a marriage ceremony to be performed in any county of this state. (3) If an applicant for a marriage license …

Except as provided in 40-1-301, when a marriage application has been completed and signed by both parties to a prospective marriage and at least one party has appeared before the clerk of the district court and paid the marriage license fee of $53, the clerk of the district court…

Before a person authorized by law to issue marriage licenses may issue a marriage license, each applicant for a license shall provide a birth certificate or other satisfactory evidence of age and, if the applicant is a minor, the approval required by 40-1-213.

No license to marry shall be issued if, at the time of making application, either of the applicants is under the influence of intoxicating liquor or narcotic drug.

A license to marry is effective upon issuance and expires after 180 days.

(1) The district court may order the clerk of the district court to issue a marriage license and a marriage certificate form to a party 16 or 17 years of age who has no parent capable of consenting to the party's marriage or has the consent of both parents or of the parent having…

(1) A marriage may be solemnized by a judge of a court of record, by a public official whose powers include solemnization of marriages, by a mayor, city judge, or justice of the peace, by a notary public authorized pursuant to 1-5-630, by a tribal judge, or in accordance with any…

(1) Persons may consummate a marriage by written declaration in this state without the solemnization provided for in 40-1-301. The declaration must be filed by the clerk of the district court in the county where the contract was executed. (2) A declaration of marriage must contai…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), a declaration of marriage must be prepared by: (a) a party to the marriage; or (b) a person who is licensed to practice law in the state of Montana. (2) (a) The office of vital records of the department of public health and human services…

Any person violating the provisions of 40-1-311 or 40-1-312, upon conviction, shall be subject to a fine of not less than $300 or 6 months in a county jail, or both.

(1) Upon receipt of the marriage certificate, the clerk of the district court shall register the marriage. (2) Every person solemnizing a marriage who shall neglect to make and deliver to the clerk of the district court a certificate thereof within 30 days after having solemnized…

The original certificate of marriage and the record thereof by the clerk of the district court or a copy of such record duly certified by the clerk of the district court shall be received by all courts in all places as presumptive evidence of such marriage.

If the record of the solemnization of a marriage heretofore entered into has been lost or destroyed and not known to exist, the parties may join in a written declaration of such marriage, substantially showing: (1) the names, ages, and residences of the parties; (2) the date and …

The written declaration of marriage provided for in 40-1-323 shall be attested by at least two witnesses and formally acknowledged by an official authorized to administer oaths in the state of Montana. The filing of the declaration with the clerk of the district court in the coun…

(1) The following marriages are prohibited: (a) a marriage entered into prior to the dissolution of an earlier marriage of one of the parties; (b) a marriage between an ancestor and a descendant or between a brother and a sister, whether the relationship is by the half or the who…

(1) The district court shall enter its decree declaring the invalidity of a marriage entered into under the following circumstances: (a) a party lacked capacity to consent to the marriage at the time that the marriage was entered into, either because of mental incapacity or infir…

Common-law marriages are not invalidated by this chapter. Declarations of marriage pursuant to 40-1-311 through 40-1-313, 40-1-323, and 40-1-324 are not invalidated by this chapter.

A person who has cohabited with another to whom the person is not legally married in the good faith belief that the person was married to that person is a putative spouse until knowledge of the fact that the person is not legally married terminates that status and prevents acquis…

Husband and wife contract toward each other obligations of mutual respect, fidelity, and support.

Insofar as each is able, the husband and wife shall support each other out of their property and labor. As used in this section, the word "support" includes the nonmonetary support provided by a spouse as homemaker.

If a married person who is able neglects to make adequate provision for the financial support of the person's spouse, except in the cases mentioned in 40-2-104, any other person may in good faith supply the spouse with articles necessary for support and recover the reasonable val…

A married person abandoned by a spouse is not liable for the spouse's support until the spouse offers to return, unless the spouse was justified by the person's misconduct in abandoning that person, nor is a married person liable for support of a spouse who is living separate fro…

A husband and wife may hold real or personal property together, jointly or in common.

(1) A husband or wife, solely on the basis of being a spouse, is not answerable for the acts of the other spouse or liable for the debts contracted by the other spouse, except that the expenses for necessities of the family and of the education of the spouses' children are charge…

A married person may sue and be sued in the same manner as if the person were single.

A married person may be a personal representative, guardian, conservator, or trustee and may personally be bound and may bind the estate the person represents without any act or assent on the part of the person's spouse.

A person has a cause of action against the person's spouse for damages caused by the spouse's intentional tort against the person, and the common-law doctrine of interspousal tort immunity is, to that extent, abolished.

Neither husband nor wife has any interest in the property of the other, except as mentioned in 40-2-102, but neither can be excluded from the other's dwelling unless enjoined by a court.

All the property of a married person owned before marriage and that acquired afterwards is that person's individual property. The married person may, without consent, agreement, and signature of the person's spouse, convey and transfer the person's individual property, real or pe…

A married person's title to and ownership of the person's individual property may be proved or demonstrated in the same manner that a single person's ownership of or title to a single person's individual property may be proved. However, if a married person chooses, the person may…

The filing of the inventory in the clerk's office is notice and prima facie evidence of the title of the person so filing.

The earnings and accumulations of a married person are not liable for the debts of that person's spouse except for debts incurred for necessary articles procured for the use and benefit of the married person, the person's spouse, or minor children.

The earnings and accumulations of a married person and of the person's minor children living with the person or in the person's custody, while the person is living separate from the person's spouse, are the individual property of that person except that, to the extent that a mutu…

All work and labor performed by a married person for a person other than the married person's spouse and children must, unless there is a written agreement on the person's part to the contrary, be presumed to be performed on the person's separate account. This section does not af…

The property of a married person is not liable for the debts of the person's spouse contracted before marriage.

Individual property of a married person listed in an inventory as provided in 40-2-203 and 40-2-204 or otherwise proved to be the individual property of the married person is exempt from all debts and liabilities of that person's spouse, except: (1) when the debt or liability is …

For purposes of determining whether a married person's earnings or individual property is exempt from the debts incurred by the person's spouse, the phrase "necessary articles" includes all goods and services that are reasonably required to provide for the health, welfare, comfor…

Either husband or wife may enter into any engagement or transaction with the other or with any other person respecting property which either might, if unmarried, subject in transactions between themselves to the general rules which control the actions of persons occupying confide…

The contracts made by a married person with respect to the person's individual property, labor, or services are not binding upon the person's spouse and do not render the spouse or the spouse's property liable for the contracts. However, the contracting person and that person's i…

A husband and wife cannot by any contract with each other alter their legal relation, except as to property and except that they may agree, in writing, to an immediate separation and may make provision for the support of either of them and of their children during such separation…

The mutual consent of the parties is a sufficient consideration for such an agreement as mentioned in 40-2-303.

The property rights of the husband and wife are governed by parts 1 through 3 of this chapter, unless there is a marriage settlement containing stipulations contrary thereto.

Except as provided in part 6 of this chapter, all contracts for marriage settlements must be in writing and executed and acknowledged or proved in like manner as a grant of land is required to be executed and acknowledged or proved.